Lough Rovers footballers lift Flor McCarthy Cup against Ballinure at Ballinlough

Lough Rovers 1-17 (1-1-15) Ballinure 0-6 (0-1-4)

Lough Rovers won the Cormac O’Connor Foodhall and Butchers Flor McCarthy Cup as they defeated Ballinure in their one-sided decider at Ballinlough.

Following a promising start by Ballinure, Lough Rovers held the upper hand as they were aided by a strong wind in the opening half. In the second half, Lough Rovers' defence held firm as they restricted Ballinure to a single score in this period.

Ballinure started brighter as Eoin O’Callaghan got two unanswered points in the game’s opening minutes.

Lough Rovers began to take a grip on proceedings as Emmet Sheehan tagged on two points from play. Dane Holland and Ryan Goldsmith also added further points, to put Lough Rovers in the driving seat.

Lough Rovers continued to have Ballinure on the back foot as Dean Arundel, Ian McDonagh and Timmy McSweeney each tagged on points from play. Lough Rovers also missed the game’s first goal-scoring opportunity as Arundel’s goal-bound shot sailed wide of the target. Ben Lynch converted a free to give Lough Rovers an advantage of 0-8 to 0-2.

O’Callaghan also had a goal-bound shot for Ballinure off target, before persistent fouling was proving to be costly for Lough Rovers. Adam Delurey and O’Callaghan converted a free each, for Ballinure, to reduce the deficit to four points.

Ballinure net-minder Cian O’Connor pulled off some spectacular saves, before Gavin Duggan stretched the margin to eight points as he landed a two-pointer on the stroke of half-time. This left the scoreline reading in favour of Lough Rovers 0-12 to 0-4 at the interval.

The second half was one-way traffic in favour of Lough Rovers as McDonagh tagged on a point within two minutes of the restart.

Lough Rovers got the game’s only goal when Arundel capitalised on the rebound of a save by Cian O’Connor.

Holland tagged on a point from play for Lough Rovers, before O’Callaghan got Ballinure’s only score of the second half, as he converted a free from outside the Lough Rovers’ 40-metre arc.

Lynch pointed a free for Lough Rovers midway through the second half.

McSweeney and Aaron Buckley each got points for Lough Rovers in the final quarter.

Scorers: Lough Rovers: D Arundel 1-2; T McSweeney 0-3; G Duggan 0-2 (1 2pt); B Lynch 0-2f; I McDonagh, D Holland, E Sheehan 0-2 each; R Goldsmith, A Buckley 0-1 each.

Ballinure: E O’Callaghan 0-5 (1 2pt f, 0-1f), A Delurey 0-1f.

Lough Rovers: R Corcoran; D Ward, N O’Sullivan, A Raymond; D O’Keeffe, G Duggan, R Goldsmith; J O’Connor, T McSweeney; D Arundel, A Buckley, I McDonagh; B Lynch, D Holland, E Sheehan.

Subs: A O’Sullivan for Raymond (51), D Hodnett for Arundel, T McCarthy for Sheehan (both 55).

Ballinure: C O’Connor; E O’Sullivan, A Collins, C Hennessy; A O’Driscoll, A Ahern, C O’Sullivan; J Delurey, S Kennedy; A Deleury, J Hayes, J Naughton; S O’Donovan, W Delaney, E O’Callaghan.

Subs: M Collins for Naughton (46), T Magee for Collins (55).

Referee: Danny Duggan (Bishopstown).